


In the Interest of the Empress (or Empress-To-Be)

by FlufferNutterButter



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe - No Sgrub Session, Alternia, F/F
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-12-25
Updated: 2014-12-25
Packaged: 2018-03-03 10:31:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,223
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2847761
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/FlufferNutterButter/pseuds/FlufferNutterButter
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Aradia's latest excursion might have been more trouble than it's worth, so it's lucky that the future Empress is there to help a stranger out when a certain maroon-blood gets caught in a nigh-abandoned bit of Alternian geography. But what was dear Feferi doing there in the first place?</p>
            </blockquote>





	In the Interest of the Empress (or Empress-To-Be)

**Author's Note:**

> I don't often write the trolls as trolls, instead of humans.
> 
> Homestuck Secret Santa 2014, for princessgamtav.tumblr.com.

Sollux didn’t look up from his computer. “No.”

“Come on! You aren’t even looking where I’m pointing-”

“Yeth, but I know where you’re pointing, AA, and I’m telling you, it’th a bad idea.”

“Sollux…” Aradia moaned, shaking the map right next to his head, “Don’t be such a worrier. Nobody lives there! I’d be the only one, and so I’d be completely safe!”

“Thothe ruinth are right on the thea cliffth! What if a random patrol-”

“There are no patrols!” Aradia sighed, flopping over into Sollux’s lap. “Literally no one cares about the south end of the sea.”

Sollux let one hand drop for a moment, running it through Aradia’s hair absentmindedly. “One: that ith completely not true. Becauthe nobody liveth there, that doethn’t mean nobody careth.” He continued to work with his other hand. “Two: even though it might be empty, it could still be dangerouth. Plenty of other wayth to die.”

“You’re no fun.” Aradia sat up, rolling the map into a cylinder. “I’m going, with or without you.”

“When,” Sollux turned around, finally, “Have I ever wanted to go along on one of your ‘expeditionth’, a.k.a. ‘death tripth’?”

Aradia scowled, grabbing her bag from the floor and quickly making her way to the door. “Well, I’m not bringing you a souvenir!” Before she slammed the door, she turned and stuck out her tongue.

The entire trip home, she griped to herself about Sollux’s lack of a taste for adventure. How in the world did such a troll, one who would rather spend all his time inside at a computer, become her moirail?

Aradia decided she’d show him. She’d go have this great adventure and be completely okay and prove him wrong, and then she’d bring him back a nice souvenir because that’s how kind and forgiving a person she was.

* * *

The next night, pack in hand, she set out for the cliffs. It would take her until the sun came up, so she brought things to camp with, already giddy with excitement at the thought of sleeping inside these ancient ruins.

Her whip was wrapped securely around her arm, offering her what little sense of security she really needed. She was completely safe. Nothing bad could happen to her in these ancient, abandoned ruins near seadweller territory.

As if to prove to her how absolutely non-threatening her journey would be, the vast empty plains and rolling hills that lay between Aradia and her goal displayed no hostility. Not once did she come across something more threatening than a winged insect or hopbeast dashing just out of her sight. None of Alternia’s famed beasts of misfortune reared their heads. Aradia took to twirling her whip and humming as she went, thoroughly enjoying a peaceful night stroll.

Though she took her journey leisurely, Aradia did not dawdle, and found herself soon within sight of the ruins, not exhausted, but still plenty tired. She ran the last short distance to her objective, an apparently unassuming pile of debris from a long-crumbled building. But this appearance did not fool the young adventurer; she knew the real treasure lay below the surface, in the twisted caverns of a cliff-face dwelling. All she needed to do was climb down the cliff just enough to get in through a dug-out window or doorway.

Aradia wove her way through the rocky debris, dropping her pack a ways back from the cliff, so as to not accidently drop it, and all of her supplies, over into the water below. The roar of the waves masked even her own footsteps, lulling her with its smooth swoosh. She walked to the edge, peering out and down to examine her climb. The cliff was just slightly concave, and there wasn’t a bit of shore at the bottom.

She shrugged, turning back. It wouldn’t be a problem, not with her abilities, she just needed to go and fetch her…

Her pack was gone. Her pack, with her camping supplies and food for the next day and husktop, was absolutely gone. But the rush of the waves couldn’t completely mask the sound of the thief, now that Aradia was listening for it.

She climbed a bit of the rocky debris, unwinding her whip from her hand, and cracked it. To her left, a lumpy shadow jumped up, startled by the noise. As the reptilian creature turned its fanged maw towards her, Aradia could see some of her food hanging from its maw.

Angry, and with a terrific scowl on her face, Aradia charged the creature, throwing it up in the air with her telepathic abilities, and securing the torn pack in the same manner. She inspected the damage to her supplies, dropping her guard for a fatal moment.

The reptilian thief had not been alone.

Suddenly, Aradia felt a thick, scaly limb wrap around her arm. She was picked up, dangling, and brought to the visage of another beast, one that screeched its mighty screech right in her face before slinging her back-

_Pop_

And a tingling feeling dragged itself through Aradia’s very being, stealing her breath and causing her to freeze-

And forward, out, over the rocks and debris and cliff itself, sending her momentarily paralyzed form plummeting into the sea.

The impact and temperature of the water served to further incapacitate her, and Aradia couldn’t move as she sank further and further, until finally, her lungs demanded their exchange, which seemed to send a jolt enough through her that she could move again. But it was no use; the arm by which the reptile had grabbed her was floating, useless, by her side; she was unable to use it, and without a way to swim to the surface, she used her final breath to scream.

After that, her mind became black, unable to process, and she was resigned to her fate.

* * *

In sweeps previous, Aradia believed she was flushed for Sollux. She’d try to steal kisses every now and again, to her now-moirail’s growing distress.

So when she felt someone’s mouth on hers, she initially believed herself to be reliving, dreaming about those early days.

However, as the action kept happening, and as Aradia started thinking, she realized no, she wasn’t dreaming, and no, this wasn’t Sollux. It was also about this time that she felt something incredibly uncomfortable in her throat, and reached out to push away whoever was with her, in order to spare them from the torrent of seawater that was about to force its way out of her mouth. She rolled herself over with her good arm.

It burned.

A soothing hand lay on Aradia’s back, rubbing circles as what felt like the entire South Sea came up on the rock below them. Aradia spat, coughed, and sputtered until all salt water was expunged.

She nearly flopped over again, exhausted, but her savior caught her and laid her down gently. Aradia blinked a few times, trying to bring the figure leaning over her into focus.

Seeing a golden tiara, shark-toothed smile, gills, and large amounts of fuchsia, Aradia realized that she was staring at the future Empress.

The future Empress just saved her life.

The future Empress smiled down at her and introduced herself.

“Thank Gl’bgolyb you’re alive! Are you okay? I saw you fall, and I think you’re hurt. My name’s Feferi, by the way.”


End file.
